High School is Not a Game by Jasmine Davenport

My freshman year was like a big game to me. I didn’t take anything seriously. I talked back to all my teachers, I slept in class, and I played around with other students. I was sent out of class almost everyday. I just felt like high school was a big joke. The first semester of my 9th grade year I took Biology, Gym, health Occupations and a Government class. I did well in my Health Occupations class and my Government. In Gym I never did any work, I didn’t dress out, didn’t participate and so I failed that and I failed Biology. In the end, I passed six out of eight classes, but barely. At the end of the year, when I realized that I failed two classes, I really was upset and blamed it on my teachers, but it was me and I didn’t want to expect that.

It was my junior year when I moved to Cedar Shoals. I decided that high school was so much more than I was making it out to be. It was almost too late when I finally realized that high school was not a game, but I caught myself just in time. With support from my family and my counselor, I got back on track in time. My counselor came up with ways for me to graduate on time with my class. And now I am a senior waiting to graduate in May. I learned that I need to be more serious about many things in life and don’t take anything for granted. My experience also taught me to focus on my life and what I need to achieve all my goals and to better myself, and also to never give up on anything. I have really learned a lot from what I had to go through because some kids are so far behind and can’t catch up in time. I take that as a blessing and I learned to never make a mistake like this again.

From my experience, freshmen can learn that high school is not a big game at all. They should not take it as such. They should know not to get off track. They should know they have to focus on their work and what they need to make their lives better. They need to know their freshman year is the most important. You have to be to focused, but know when to have fun and when to separate fun from school.